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Dec 12 '17
TORONTO -- Kyle Lowry sat at his locker nursing a headache in the moments after the Toronto Raptors loss on Sunday, the product of a misplaced knee. Aaron Lynch Jersey . The Raptors were thoroughly dismantled by a speedy Phoenix Suns team in a 121-113 loss, but Lowry and coach Dwane Casey insisted there would be no lingering pain after a rare defeat at home. "Its not a systemic problem, its one game, we knew we werent going to go undefeated the rest of the way," Casey said. "That team right there, theyre fighting for their playoff lives like we are, and theyre a quality team in the west. "Its not like its the end of the world." Lowry scored 19 of his 28 points in the third quarter against the run-and-gun Suns, but his standout effort wasnt enough as the Raptors (37-28) lost at the Air Canada Centre for just the fifth time in the last 16 games. There were some scary moments with about a minute-and-a-half to go when Lowry went down in a scramble for a loose ball, and was ploughed in the head by first one of PJ Tuckers knees and then the other. "Ive got a headache. . . These (TV camera) lights are killing me right now," Lowry said, shrugging off any suggestion of a concussion. "PJs not a dirty guy, Ive known him for a while. He even apologized after the game. . . . Hes a strong dude, so it hurt." Terrence Ross finished with 22 points while Amir Johnson had 20, DeMar DeRozan finished with 17, and Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 15. Gerald Green scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to top the Suns (38-27), while Goran Dragic added 19, and Markieff Morris had 16 point and grabbed 14 rebounds. The Raptors had been red-hot the past several weeks, positioning themselves for their first playoff appearance in six seasons. Theyd gone an Eastern Conference-best 11-3 since Feb. 10 heading into Sundays game and sat first place in the Atlantic Division. But the hungry Suns also have the playoffs in their sights. They went into Sunday trailing Memphis by a game-and-a-half for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. "Thats a helluva team right there," DeRozan said. "(We can) just learn from it. We battled, a lot of stuff didnt go our way. . . It was just a tough night overall. The Suns outran the Raptors all afternoon, and led by as much as 14 points before taking a 96-90 advantage into the fourth in front of a crowd of 18,717 energetic fans at the Air Canada Centre. The visitors pulled ahead by 15 a couple of times in the final 12 minutes before a basket and free throw by Lowry made it a seven-point deficit with 4:08 to play. But on the Suns next trip down the floor, Morris grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to put the game virtually out of reach. "Theyre up and down," Lowry said. "They got out. . . 121 (points), thats their type of game. We dont want to have a type of game like that, we want to hold teams under 100, under 90 preferably." Rebounding proved problematic for the Raptors all afternoon, with Suns owning a whopping 45-26 advantage on the boards. "Again, no time to panic," Casey said. "I dont think were going to see that type of speed and quickness -- at least I hope not -- the rest of the way." The Raptors frustration showed at times. Casey was slapped with a technical for arguing a call, then DeRozan collected a tech when he kicked the ball in anger. "It was just tough when youre going out there playing hard and sometimes you dont get a call that youre fighting or dying for and that we may need at a critical time," DeRozan said. Both teams shot well, the Suns going 50.7 per cent from the field to Torontos 49.4. There was plenty of energy from both teams in a first-quarter shootout. The Raptors and Suns combined for 10-for-14 from three-point range. The Raptors led by as much as nine, but Marcus Morris drained two consecutive threes to put the Suns up 37-35 going into the second. "The guys seemed really focused tonight," said Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek. "They came out right from the start, they had the energy. Maybe it was the one oclock game that were not used to playing; they thought it was a great opportunity. I thought were on ESPN or something." The Raptors went 0-for-8 to open the second quarter until a John Salmons pull-up jumper more than five minutes in. The Raptors ended the quarter with a 10-2 run and when Ross drained a three, and pumped one fist in the air, it pulled Toronto to within two points. The Suns led 61-59 at halftime. The Raptors fell behind by 14 points with just under six minutes to play in the third, when Lowry almost single-handedly got them back in the game. He scored 10 points in the final 3:38 of the quarter and the Raptors went into the fourth trailing 96-90. NOTES: Raptors forward Patrick Patterson missed his fifth game with an elbow injury. Casey said he will be evaluated again Monday. . . The Raptors are on the road for two games -- Tuesday at Atlanta and Wednesday at New Orleans -- before returning home to host Oklahoma City next Friday . . . The Raptors had won three in a row against the Suns before a 106-97 loss in Phoenix on Dec. 6. Arik Armstead Jersey . Mauer drove in two runs before leaving with an injury, Eduardo Nunez homered and the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 10-2 on Tuesday night. Joe Staley Jersey . He will just have to wait a little longer. Bester grabbed an early lead before Scotlands Darren Burnett took over and ran away with the mens singles lawn bowling final 21-9 on Friday.Turns out this No. 87 in Pittsburgh is pretty good, more brilliance from That 70’s Line and a productive veteran winger in Tampa Bay. Tons of lineup news, injuries, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Sidney Crosby – The Penguins’ superstar had five assists in 15:52 of ice time in Saturday’s 6-1 win at Buffalo. This was the 13th instance, since 1987-1988, that a player recorded five assists in a game with less than 16 minutes of ice time. In the past five seasons, Crosby is orbiting in his own space when it comes to points per 60 minutes during 5-on-5 play: Points Per 60 Minutes of 5-on-5 Play PLAYER TEAM PTS/60 Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh 3.42 Evgeni Malkin Pittsbugh 2.65 Jamie Benn Dallas 2.60 Steven Stamkos Tampa Bay 2.54 Jonathan Toews Chicago 2.45 Jamie Benn Dallas 2.45 Tyler Seguin Dallas 2.39 Thomas Vanek Minnesota 2.39 Chris Kunitz Pittsburgh 2.36 Taylor Hall Edmonton 2.34 Crown Jewels - Kings RW Tyler Toffoli and D Alex Martinez each had three points in Los Angeles’ 5-1 win over Vancouver Saturday. C Jeff Carter, C Anze Kopitar, LW Marian Gaborik and D Jake Muzzin all had a goal and an assist. The line of LW Tanner Pearson, C Anze Kopitar and RW Tyler Toffoli controlled play at better than 82% for the game, with Pearson (21 attempts for, 3 against, 87.5%) leading the way. Ryan Callahan – The Lightning right winger scored a goal and added two assists against Columbus Saturday, then added another couple of assists at Detroit Sunday, giving him 11 points in 10 games, along with carrying 56.0% of 5-on-5 shot attempts, this season. ZEROES Mike Green - At Chicago Friday, Washington’s puck-moving blueliner couldn’t get into the Blackhawks’ zone, on the ice for two shot attempts for and 15 against (11.8%). Andrew Shaw – The Blackhawks centre hasn’t recorded a shot on goal in more than 52 minutes of ice time in the past three games, failing to register a shot attempt in the last two. Cory Schneider – The Devils goaltender was yanked after allowing four goals on 24 Red Wings shots Friday. It was the second straight start that he was pulled. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Johnny Boychuk – The Islanders’ surprising blueline star suffered a suspected knee injury Friday night against Los Angeles. Brian Strait was inserted into the Isles’ lineup Saturday at Arizona. Zach Parise – Has been out of the Wild lineup, with a concussion, so Thomas Vanek joined Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville on the top line. Parise has returned to practice with the Wild, while Jason Zucker, Mikko Koivu and Charlie Coyle were on the second line. Derek Stepan – The Rangers centre returned to the lineup Saturday against Toronto and has taken a spot in the middle with LW Chris Kreider and RW Mats Zuccarello. Braydon Coburn – Returned to the Flyers lineup Saturday against Colorado, though the Flyers defence didn’t have long to revel in improved health, as Luke Schenn suffered an upper-body injury against the Avalanche and is expected to miss a couple weeks. Evgeny Kuznetsov – The Capitals scratched their skilled rookie Friday against Chicago, but he returned to the lineup with strong possession numbers (12 shot attempts for, 4 against, 75.0%) against Carolina Saturday. Dmitri Kulikov – Left Saturday’s game against Calgary with a knee injury. Colby Robak would figure to get into the lineup with Kulikov out, but Erik Gudbranson is likely to get the boost into Kulikov’s top-four role. James Wisniewski – Returned to the Blue Jackets lineup Friday after missing more than a week with a broken finger and picked up three assists in Saturday’s 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay. Bryan Allen – Played his first couple games for the Ducks, returning from a lower-body injury. With Cam Fowler and Francois Beauchemin missing, Allen averaged more than 20 minutes per game and delivered strong possession stats (46 shot attempts for, 24 against, 65.7%). Valeri Nichushkin – Dallas’ second-year winger is out of the lineup, again, with a groin injury. He missed three weeks, returned for two games and has returned to the IR. Dallas has inserted Patrick Eaves into the right wing spot with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin on the Stars’ top line. Jiri Sekac – Has returned to the Canadiens’ lineup, while Montreal has made Rene Bourque a healthy scratch. Bourque has also been put on waivers, so it will take some change of fortune for Bourque to find his way back into the lineup. Peter Regin – Called up from the AHL, he had a stellar possession game (13 shot attempts for, 2 against, 86.7%) for Chicago against Washington Friday. Markus Granlund – The Flames rookie played 20:33 against Florida, second among Flames forwards behind Monahan (20:34), though Granlund won just 10% (2 wins, 18 losses) of his faceoffs. Tomas Fleischmann – The veteran Panthers winger was a healthy scratch against Calgary Saturday. Fleischmann hasn’t scored a goal and has one assist, with 49.1% possession, in 11 ggames this season. Jerry Rice Jersey. Shorthanded Kings – Drew Doughty played 29:46 against Vancouver, while the Kings dressed five defencemen, unable to bring up someone from the AHL to replace injured D Robyn Regehr. Trevor Smith – Picked up an assist in his season debut for the Maple Leafs at Ottawa Sunday, playing with rookies Sam Carrick and Josh Leivo. David Rundblad – A 24-year-old who has played 63 NHL games since the start of the 2011-2012 season, Rundblad has replaced Michal Rozsival in Blackhawks’ lineup. He’s played a sheltered third-pair role, but has 61.5% of the even-strength shot attempts when he’s been in the lineup. Keith Aulie – The towering blueliner has been called up and put into the Oilers’ lineup, while Martin Marincin and Oskar Klefbom have been scratched, and Aulie has put up solid possession (61.8% Corsi) in three games. SHORT SHIFTS Penguins D Kris Letang had two goals and two assists, and RW Patric Hornqvist had two goals and an assist in a 6-1 win at Buffalo Saturday… Blue Jackets LW Scott Hartnell scored a pair of goals, both assisted by C Boone Jenner, in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to…Hurricanes C Victor Rask had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 3-2 overtime win vs. Columbus. The rookie centre has four points in the past four games and has been rocking 55.6% possession stats through his first 13 NHL games… Capitals LW Marcus Johansson and C Andre Burakovsky each contributed a goal and an assist in a 3-2 win at Chicago Friday. After scoring eight goals in 80 games last year, Johansson has six goals in 14 games this season… Flames rookie LW Johnny Gaudreau and D Mark Giordano each had a goal and two assists in Saturday’s 6-4 win at Florida...Panthers D Aaron Ekblad had a couple of assists and had Florida’s best possession stats (26 shot attempts for, 9 against, 74.3%) in Saturday’s 6-4 loss to Calgary…Flyers C Claude Giroux had two goals and an assist and RW Jakub Voracek had three assists in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Colorado. Voracek, up to 22 points for the season, sits two points behind Crosby for the league scoring lead… Rangers LW Chris Kreider and RW Mats Zuccarello, playing with C Derek Stepan, each had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 loss to Toronto Saturday. Zuccarello also had a game-high 10 shot attempts (7 SOG). C Tyler Johnson notched a pair of goals in Saturday’s 7-4 win at Columbus then added another in Sunday’s win at Detroit. Johnson has four goals and 12 assists in the past dozen games…Blue Jackets LW Scott Hartnell scored a pair of goals, both assisted by C Boone Jenner, in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Carolina, then scored a pair of goals in a 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay Saturday…Predators LW Filip Forsberg continued his five-game point streak (5 G, 3 A), with a goal and an assist at St. Louis in Saturday’s 2-1 win. Forsberg leads all rookies with 15 points in 14 games. Ducks RW Jakob Silfverberg had a dominant possession game (31 shot attempts for, 6 against, 83.8%) Friday against Arizona, with most of his damage coming against the Coyotes’ line of LW Tobias Rieder, C Antoine Vermette and RW Shane Doan…That Coyotes line had a rough go Saturday against the Islanders too, lingering around 33% possession and Vermette failed to register a shot attempt in 18:34 against the Islanders. Sabres G Michael Neuvirth stopped 49 of 52 Oilers shots in a 3-2 loss Friday…Capitals G Braden Holtby had 38 saves on 40 shots to beat Chicago 3-2 Friday…Predators G Pekka Rinne stopped 28 of 29 shots at St. Louis Saturday…Ducks G Frederik Andersen stopped 34 of 35 shots and Canucks G Eddie Lack turned aside 28 of 29 shots in a 2-1 shootout win for the Canucks in Anaheim Sunday…Jets G Ondrej Pavelec stopped 37 of 38 shots and Senators G Craig Anderson turned aside 36 of 37 shots in Saturday’s 2-1 shootout win for Winnipeg. FIRSTS Iiro Pakarinen – The Oilers right winger scored his first NHL goal Friday at Buffalo. Trevor van Riemsdyk – Chicago’s rookie blueliner scored his first NHL goal in Sunday’s 5-2 win over San Jose. Mat Clark – Played his first games for the Ducks since April 3, 2012. Francois Beauchemin was out with the flu and Cam Fowler had a lower-body injury, opening up room for Clark. Brandon DeFazio – A 26-year-old undrafted free agents out of Clarkson, DeFazio has played 219 games in the AHL, putting up 81 points and 363 penalty minutes. He had an uneventful 6:04 of ice time in his debut, skating with Bo Horvat on the Canucks’ fourth line. FANTASY FOCUS Only two games on the Monday night schedule, but here are a couple of players to keep tabs on: Justin Faulk – The Carolina defenceman has five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past five games as the Hurricanes have started to turn the corner after a rough start to the season. Carl Soderberg – With David Krejci continuing to battle injuries, there are prime opportunities available for the second-year Bruins centre, and Soderberg leads the team with 12 points in 15 games and has formed an effective line lately with LW Matt Fraser and RW Loui Eriksson. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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